Chapter Three

Topics discussed in this section:

Theory of frequency and phase modulation

Noise and frequency modulation
Generation of FM
FM Demodulation

3.1
 Angle modulation
 In this method of modulation the angle of the carrier wave is
varied according to the baseband signal ,the amplitude and
frequency of the carrier wave maintained constant.

Type of Angle Modulation

 FM(Frequency Modulation)
 PM(Phase Modulation)

3.2
 FM(Frequency Modulation)
 FM:- is one form of angle modulation it is defined as the frequency
of the carrier wave is varied proportional to the instantaneous
amplitude of baseband signal by keeping the carrier phase and
amplitude constant.
 Power in an FM signal does not vary with modulation ( ))
 FM signals do not have an envelope that reproduces the modulation
 The figure below shows a simplified FM generator

3.3
 Cont’d..

3.4
 Frequency Deviation
 The carrier of the transmitter is at it’s resting
frequency(no modulation) and we apply a modulating signal.
The amplitude of the modulating signal will cause the
carrier to deviate (shift) from it’s resting frequency by
certain amount.
 Frequency deviation of the carrier is proportional to the
amplitude of the modulating signal as illustrated

3.5
 Cont’d..

 If we increase the amplitude (loudness) of the modulating

signal; we will increase the deviation to maximum of 75KHz as
specified by the FCC. If we remove the modulation , the
carrier frequency shift back to its resting frequency.
 The rate at which the carrier shift from it’s resting point to
a non resting point is determined by the frequency of the
modulating signal(the interaction b/n the amplitude and
frequency of the modulation signal)

3.6
 Phase Modulation

 PM:- is one form of angle modulation it is defined as the Phase

of the carrier wave is varied proportional to the instantaneous
amplitude of baseband signal by keeping the carrier frequency
and amplitude constant.

Phase Deviation
 In phase modulation, the phase shift is proportional to the
instantaneous amplitude of the modulating signal, according to the
formula:

3.7
 Relationship Between FM and Phase Modulation
 Frequency is the derivative of phase, or, in other words,
frequency is the rate of change of phase
 The modulation index is proportional to frequency deviation and
inversely proportional to modulating frequency

Block diagram of Angle Modulation

Message Phase FM
integrator wave
signal modulator

a Carrier signal (Cos 2∏fc)

3.8
 Cont’d..

Message
signal frequency PM
Differentiator
modulator wave

b Carrier signal (Cos 2∏fc)

The block diagram illustrating the relationship between frequency

modulation and phase modulation. (a) Scheme for generating an FM
wave by using a phase modulator. (b) Scheme for generating a PM
wave by using a frequency modulator.

3.9
6.10
 Analytical expression for Angle Modulation
 If is an angle modulated signal, then

1. Phase modulation:

2. Frequency modulation:

3.11
 Cont’d..
 If is the message signal, then the
frequency modulated signal is given by

 Here, is called frequency deviation and, then

is called modulation index

3.12
 Cont’d..
 The frequency of the modulated signal is given by

……..eqn. (1.1)
Example1.Find the carrier and modulating frequencies, the
modulation index and the maximum deviation of the FM wave
represented by the voltage equations .
What power will this FM wave dissipated in a 10Ὠ resistor ?

Solution

3.13
 Cont’d..

 Depending on the value of the modulation index β we may

distinguish two cases of frequency modulation:

- Narrow band FM, for which β is small compared to one radian.

- Wide band FM , for which β is large compare to one radian.

Narrow band frequency modulation ( )
 Consider Equation (1.1), which defines an FM signal resulting from
the use of a sinusoidal modulating signal. Expanding this relation,
we get

3.14
 Cont’d..

Since

Hence,

3.15
 Cont’d..

The above equation is similar to AM. Hence, for NBFM the

bandwidth is same as that of AM i.e.,2 message bandwidth(2B).

Figure : FM signal - both Amplitude and Frequency Modulation

3.16
 Example.2
In an FM system, when the audio frequency is 500Hz and the audio
frequency voltage is 2.4V, the deviation is 4,8KHz. If the audio
frequency voltage is now increased to 7.2V. What is the new
deviation? If the audio frequency voltage is raised to 10V while the
audio frequency dropped to 200Hz, what is the new deviation ? Find
the modulation index in each case
Solution

3.17
 Wide-Band FM (WBFM)

• Wide band FM , for which β is large compare to one radian ( ß>>1)

• Consider Equation (1.1), which defines an FM signal resulting from
the use of a sinusoidal modulating signal. Expressed this relation, as
Bessel series (Bessel functions) we get.

S  t  = Ac  J  β  cos ω + nω  t
n c m
n= 

• Where Jn() are Bessel functions of the first kind. Expanding

the equation for a few terms we have:

3.18
 Cont’d..

S (t )  Ac J 0 (  ) cos(c )t  Ac J1 (  ) cos(c  m )t  Ac J 1 (  ) cos(c  m )t

                  
Amp fc Amp fc  fm Amp fc  fm

 Ac J 2 (  ) cos(c  2m )t  Ac J  2 (  ) cos(c  2m )t  

              
Amp fc 2 fm Amp fc 2 f m

FM Signal Spectrum

3.19
 Cont’d..

• Sideband structure is more complicated than for AM; many

sidebands produced
• Complexity depends on ß
• However, spacing between carrier and sidebands (and between
adjacent sidebands) is equal to fm, just as for AM
• Theoretically, an infinite number of sidebands produced, but most
of power is contained in first (ß +1) sidebands
• Thus transmission requires a bandwidth of approximately 2 (ß +1)
fm Hz

3.20
 Cont’d..

3.21
 Cont’d..

 For FM, the bandwidth varies with both deviation and

modulating frequency
 Increasing modulating frequency reduces modulation
index so it reduces the number of sidebands with
significant amplitude
 On the other hand, increasing modulating frequency
increases the frequency separation between sidebands
 Bandwidth increases with modulation frequency but is not
directly proportional to it

3.22
 Cont’d..

FM is used in
High fidelity FM broadcasting
TV audio broadcasting
Microwave carrier modulation
Point-to-Point communications system

3.23
 Noise and Frequency modulation

 One of the original reasons for developing FM was to give

improved performance in the presence of noise, which is still
one of the major advantages over AM
 One way to approach the problem of FM and noise is think of
noise as a phasor of random amplitude and phase angle

3.24
 Generation of FM
 There are two ways of generating FM waves
 Direct generation and
 Indirect generation

1.Indirect Method of Armstrong

Figure : Narrow band FM wave generation

3.25
 Cont’d..

Figure :Block diagram of the indirect method of generating a

Wide band FM wave generation.

3.26
 2. Direct Method
 In a voltage control oscillator (VCO), the frequency is
controlled by external voltage.
 The oscillation frequency varies Linearly with the control
voltage. We can generate an FM wave by using the modulating
signal m(t) as a control signal. This given by

 One can construct VCO using in Hartley or Colpitt oscillators,

for instance , the frequency of oscillation is given by

3.27
 Cont’d..
If the capacitance C is varied by the modulating signal m(t), that is if

- Here we have used the binomial approximation

thus

3.28
 Cont’d..

Because , the maximum capacitance deviation is

Hence

- Direct FM generation generally produces sufficient frequency

deviation and requires little frequency multiplication. But this method
has poor frequency stability

3.29
 Demodulation OF FM SIGNALS
• Frequency demodulation is the process that enables us to recover
the original modulating signal from a frequency-modulated signal.
Methods:
1. Frequency Discriminator followed by an envelope detector.
2. Phase locked loop demodulator.
Frequency Discriminator

3.30
 Cont’d..

• If we observe the above equation carefully, it is both amplitude

and frequency modulated.
• Hence, to recover the original signal back an envelope detector
can be used.
3.31
 Cont’d..

Figure : FM Signal both amplitude and frequency modulation

4.32
 Phase locked loop demodulator

• Because of their low cost and superior performance especially

when the SNR is low, FM demodulation using PLL is the most
widely used method today.
• The output of the loop filter H(S) act as an input to the VCO
as shown below .

3.33
 Cont’d..
•The free running frequency of VCO is set at the carrier frequency
.
• The instantaneous frequency of the VCO is given by

• If the VCO out put is , then its instantaneous

frequency is
There fore

Where C and B are constant of the PLL.

3.34
 Advantages of Angle Modulation over
AM-
1. As the amplitude of FM carrier is constant, the noise
interference is minimum.
2. The amplitude of FM carrier is constant and is
independent of depth of modulation. Hence transmitter
power remains constant in FM whereas it varies in AM.
3. As against the limitation of depth of modulation in
AM, in FM depth of modulation can be increased to
any value, without causing any distortion.

6.35
 4. Because of guard bands provided in FM, adjacent
channel interference is very less.
5. Since FM uses VHF and UHF bands of
frequencies, the noise interference is minimum as
compared to AM which uses MF and HF ranges.
6. Radius of propagation is limited as FM uses space
waves with line of sight. So it is possible to operate
many independent transmitters on the same
frequency with minimum interference.

6.36
 Disadvantages of FM compared to AM-
1. BW requirement of FM is very high as
compared to AM.
2. FM equipments are more complex and
hence costly.
Area covered by FM is limited, to line of
sight area but AM coverage area is large.

6.37